Chapter 13

"I knew you were still alive, but I never thought you'd be stupid enough to show your face around here Jellal!" Mason screamed as the stranger lifted his head to reveal that he did in fact look absolutely identical to Jellal, down to the red marking on the side of his face. It was impossible to mistake him for anyone else, even twins weren't that identical.

"Wait!" Jellal called back. "I'm not the Jellal you know, my name is Mystogan!" He called back lifting the bandages on his right arm to reveal a Fairy Tail guild mark. "I'm a member of Fairy Tail just like you!"

"Liar…" Mason growled back. "You really think I'll buy this crap again! Jellal! Siegrain! Mystogan! I don't give a crap what you call yourself! You're dead!"

"Please calm down!" Mystogan called back trying to ease tensions. "I promise I can explain myself, lets just talk about it!" Mystogan took a small step as show of faith, but as he did so a cage of red ruins erupted in the area containing him and Mason.

"Looks like talking is no longer an option…" Mason said as he began summoning magic energy into his hands. "PHANTOM DRAGON'S CANNON!" He brought his hands together and created a massive blast of magic energy.

"THREE LAYERED MAGIC CIRCLE!" Mystogan acted out in self defense and performed a series of hand movements resulting in the creation of wall of three magic circles in front of him. "MIRROR WATER!" The magic circles caught Mason's attack before sending the magic blast back at its caster but there was no target to be hit. "Where did he-"

"VANISHING FIST!" Mason appeared in front of Mystogan and struck with a magic charged fist that the blue haired wizard just barely managed to dodge, but Mason wasn't finished. "PHANTOM DRAGON'S ROAR!" Now at point blank range, Mason unleashed his breath attack and the swarm of magic phantoms consumed Mystogan. BOOMMM! A large magic explosion erupted where Mystogan was standing and after the smoke cleared Mystogan stood pat and it didn't appear that he had taken much damage.

"You're a Dragon Slayer?" Mystogan looked shocked at this revelation which only served to further irritate Mason.

"Grrrrr….. DON'T ACT LIKE YOU DON'T KNOW WHO I AM!" Mason snapped as magic energy started collecting around his foot. "PHANTOM DRAGON'S STRIKE!" Mason spun around on one foot and preformed a sweeping kick but Mystogan used one of his numerous magic staffs to block the attack. Mason then went to plan B as he fired another punch charged with magic energy at his foe but Mystogan grabbed him by the wrist bringing his attack to halt.

Mystogan had a hold of Mason making him unable to attack. "Now Listen to me! I'm not Jellal!" The blue haired mage tried once more to reason with the Dragon Slayer.

"SHUT UP!" Mason called out and in his rage generated a shock wave that forced Mystogan to release him. "PHANTOM DRIVE!" Mason's eyes were completely consumed by a bright purple glow and magic energy began to radiat off of him like a violet flame. "Die…" Mason growled as he created an energy ball the size of a beach ball in his hand before flinging it at his opponent.

"THREE LAYERED MAG-" Before mystogan could finish his spell the magic blast was upon him. BOOM! The impact of the energy blast sent the caped wizard flying.

"Ughh…" Mystogan rested his head hand as he climbed back to his feet. " This is bad… He's somehow stronger than he was before. I've never seen magic amplification like this its like the very magic inside him has somehow been super charged…"

Before Mystogan could fully regain his footing Mason pounced once more, his hands now replaced with claws made of magic energy. "AAAHHHH!" Mason roared as he swiped his new claws at Mystogan. His anger making him more animalistic by the second.

He went for a forward swipe that Mystogan dodged expertly, before drawing one of his staves from behind him. This particular staff had fan like head and used it to fire a powerful energy blast that knocked Mason backwards and left his body smoking. "Stay down." Mystogan warned but it was no use as Mason climbed once more to his feet. "The you've brought this upon yourself. FIVE LAYERED MAGIC CIRCLE! SACRED SONG!"

Five distinct magic circles began to form above Mason's head and a bright purple light began to shine through them before a massive wave of magic energy was dropped on Mason's head. "AAHHHAAAGGHHHH!" Mason groaned as he struggled to hold himself up against sheer force of the attack. When the magic blast subsided Mason dropped to one knee and began panting heavily, as the power boost granted from his Drive spell wore off.

Mystogan walked slowly over to exhausted Dragon Slayer, his fan like staff aimed at himthe whole time. "Stand down!" Mystogan demanded.

"Haah haahh Never…." Mason said as he panted, even though he was in no condition to continue fighting his body was covered in scratches and burns and his legs shook beneath the weight of his body. "AAAAHHHHHAAAAAAHHHH!" Magic energy exploded from Mason's body as he called on the remainder of his strength."I'M NOT GONNA LOSE TO YOU AGAIN!" Mason fired another energy blast from his hands.

"Gaahh!" The energy blast was too fast for Mystogan to dodge, forcing him to jump out of the way to dodge the attack, but after the attack flew by him he looked up to see two glowing purple eyes staring him down. "What?!"

"PHANTOM DRAGON ROAR!" Mason's cheeks swelled and he opened his jaw and a cyclone of purple ghosts consumed Mystogan's body once again striking him at close range.

"Haahhh…" Mystogan had crossed his arms and his staff to defend himself from the attack but as the smoke cleared around him he realized that Mason was no longer in front of him.

"PHANTOM DRAGON'S STRIKE!" Mason cried out as he suddenly appeared behind the blue haired wizard and slammed his glowing foot into his back, knocking him to the ground. Mason grabbed him off the ground, pulling him up by his shirt as he charged his fist with magic power.

"OUUFFFF!" Mystogan let out a pained grunt as Mason drilled his fist into his stomach. The dragon slayer reeled back again before launching a punch that smashed Mystogan's face and sent him flying backwards. "HACKK!" The beaten Mystogan let out a mouthful of blood as he got back up on his knees. "That's it. I'm done playing around!" Mystogan grabbed his fan-staff and fired an energy blast at Mason.

Before the energy blast could hit Mason disappeared from sight as the attack just flew past. He became visible once more right next to Mystogan where he drove another kick into his stomach. "TOO WEAK!" Mason called out as his foe went flying

"AAHHHAAHHH!" Mystogan let out a pained cry as his body bounced across the dirt floor before coming to a stop.

"Come on Jellal! Use your heavenly body magic or that seven star spell or something!" Mason's voice was filled with a mixture of emotions as he seemed to be losing it. "None of this matters if you don't try!" Mason was in tears but at the same time a twisted smile had formed on his face.

"You want to experience my most powerful spell? Fine! But don't say I didn't warn you!" Mystogan planted all five of the Staves into the ground as purple magic began to surge between them as a massive violet magic circle erupted from this surging power. "SKYSCRAPER…"

A massive magical explosion erupted beneath Mason's feet launching him into the air. "What the hell!?" Mason exclaimed as he hurrdled up through the sky, the ground getting further and further away as he couldn't stop his ascent. Soon he was up past the atmosphere and staring into the darkness of space when a hole began to open, revealing a massive toothy monster. "Heh…" Mason began to grin before opening his mouth wide as he began to swallow the very space around him.

Soon mystogan's spell was broken as Mason stood whiping his mouth after the meal. "Sorry, but fear or illusion magic isn't gonna work on me. I do appreciate the snack though." Mason opened a large magic circle beneath his feet that caused an energy surge that made his hair stand up straight. "Time to finish things! DRAGON SLAYER SECRET ART: CURSED SOUL! 10000 PHANTOMS!" A swarm of purple ghosts exploded from Mason, the swarm flew directly up at first but changed direction midair and began to fly for Mystogan.

"Waah! Haah!" Mystogan managed to jump out of the way of two of the but there were too many of them and they moved too fast. BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! KABOOM! A series of explosions ending in a large one finally incapacitated Mystogan.

"Haahh… Haahh… Haahh…" Mason panted as he slowly walked over to the beaten Mystogan and picked him up by the hair, then created a magic claw in his other hand and held it up to his stomach. "Haah… I did it… I beat Jellal!" Mason celebrated, but his smile slowly faded.

"Yes… You beat me." Mystogan replied sounding just as exhausted as the dragon slayer. "So what now, You'll kill me?"

"I-I uh…" Mason was caught completely off guard on what he had to do next. He looked down at his glowing magic claw and his hand began to shake. "I... I…" His eyes widened for a moment, before he lowered his head and dispelled his claw magic before dropping Mystogan to the ground.

"I'm not the Jellal you know, please believe me." Mystogan tried to convince the dragon slayer now that things have calmed down a bit. His voice was full of sincerity.

Mason looks away for a moment then he turned back to Mystogan before closing his eyes and taking in a deep breath through his nose and when he opened his eyes he saw a small blue mist like substance surrounding Mystogan. "Haaahhhhh…." He sighed. "You're telling the truth…" Mason fell onto his back with his arms splayed out wide. "Your soul is too clean. There's no way your the Jellal I know…. Sorry…" Mason lifted Mystogan's mask into the air an the mysterious wizard quickly snatched it back and covered his face once more. "I guess I understand why that mask is so important to you, but if you're not the real Jellal than who are you?"

Mystogan extended a hand and pulled Mason up to his feet. "I suppose I can tell you, but it's important that as few people know this secret as possible." Mystogan stared directly into Mason's ruby red eyes. "Can I trust you?"

"Uh… Yeah I won't tell a soul!" Mason said with a grin.


(Later)

"So…. Your name IS Jellal and You're a prince from another dimension…." Mason tried to keep a serious face.

"You don't believe me?" Mystogan didn't sound surprised by this reaction.

"No no, I mean I'm in no position to judge. I was raised by a Dragon after all." Mason reassured. "It's just if you're a magic prince then why are you here in this world?"

"That, you don't need to know right now." Mystogan deadpanned. "More importantly if you have the ability to sense a person's soul, whether they are good or evil? Can't you use that ability to sense where Laxus is, his soul should be easy to detect among the crowd."

"You'd think right?" Mason said understanding where the question was coming from. "My ability to see souls is pretty flawed in the long run which is why I choose more often not to use it. The way it works is that there are essentially three kinds of souls I can see. Souls of good people which tend to be blue in color, souls of bad people which tend to be dark red and the souls of those in between that tend to be purplish. The thing is there are more purple souls than any others, and it looks as though that Laxus is probably one of those in between souls right now. You have to have done something pretty messed up to get a red soul like murder, and no ones dead yet so we're out of luck."

"Well that's unfortunate, I guess it's up to me to find him myself." Mystogan said as he prepared to leave.

"Wait a second, where do you think you're going." Mason jumped to catch up with the fleeing wizard. "I can help you, to make up for attacking you out of nowhere."

"No thanks I'll handle this myself." Mystogan said ignoring the Dragon Slayers plea. "I don't want to risk anymore collateral damage than necessary."

"What's that supposed to mean!" Mason's eyes sharpened in anger. "Listen! I just kicked your butt didn't I. I should be the one to fight laxus, or should at least be there in case you can't beat him!" Mystogan glared back frightening the dragon slayer. "What? Do they not have jokes in opposite world? Heh.. Heh…. Anyway, you can't expect me to just stay here while you go out to fight on your own."

"Yes I can." Mystogan said as he grabbed his fan staff from behind his back. "Sleep."

"Wha?" Mason said as his footsteps began to slow and his eyes began to grow heavy. "Hey… Wait.." Mason summoned magic energy to his hand and aimed it at the fleeing Mystogan but he fell back and the blast was fired straight up into the air. "Haaaahhhh! Shuuuuuhhhh!" Mason passed out and was totally asleep.

Mason laid asleep for a few moments as Mystogan fled the scene completely. The dragon slayer snored peacefully for few seconds before the energy blast he let loose earlier fell back to earth and collided with a small rock next to the sleeping mage. BOOOMM! "HUH?!" The sound of the exploding rock was enough to jar Mason from his slumber. "Huh, Jellal? Where'd you go?" Mason looked around a few times before he got a whiff of the air. "There you are he smirked."


(Later at Kardia Cathedral)

The lightning mage Laxus and Mystogan stood face to face in the center of the church as they prepared for battle. "Let's settle this here and now Mystogan." Laxus stood back with a his arms crossed and a crooked grin plastered on his face. "Or should I say?" Before laxus could finish Mystogan fired a magic blast from his fan-like staff but Laxus countered with a blast of lightning. The collision resulted in a shock wave that shattered all windows in the building and could be felt throughout the entire city.

"How did you know about that?" Mystogan called back.

"Ya know it's really not that hard to figure out!" Mason made himself visible and called out from one of the rafters of the church getting the attention of the two combatants. "If you really want to confuse people try doing a voice or maybe wear something other than black and dark blue." Mason taunted from above.

"What are you doing here! I thought I placed a sleeping spell on you!" A confused Mystogan called back.

"I know you! Your that council loser sent here to babysit the guild!" Laxus growled as his body began to surge with lightning magic. "I thought I told the old man no outside help!"

"Actually that's former council loser." Mason replied before dropping from the ceiling. "I'm a full fledged member of Fairy Tail." He pointed to his guild mark for proof.

"Good for you." Laxus brushed this off before turning to Mystogan. "So you think you need to double team me? You can bring as many fighters as you want, but it won't matter!"

"Actually I told him to remain behind, but as long as he's here I guess I could use the assistance." Mystogan relented with a sigh.

"No way!" Mason said with a smirk getting Mystogan to sweat. "I gave you the chance to join forces and you tried to put me to sleep. The battle of Fairy Tail is a battle royale right? That means both of you are my enemy. He said it himself if we wanted to stop the thunder palace we had to beat him in a fight. That's exactly what I plan to do, but I'm gonna take Mystogan down with me!"

"HAHA! Someone's finally getting what I'm talking about! Let's get this show on the road!" Laxus slammed his fist down into the ground and a wave of lightning shot across the floor.

Mason and Mystogan both lept in the air, with the former drawing his magic staff and pointing it at Mason. "If it's a battle royale you want, than so be it." He fired a magic blast at the Dragon slayer.

Mason disappeared and reamerged behind Laxus and his cheeks began to swell. "PHANTOM DRAGON'S ROAR!" A massive spiral of purple ghosts erupted from the dragon slayer's mouth and blasting the blonde mage from behind.

"GAH!" Laxus wasn't expecting the attack and took a bit of damage. "A dragon slayer, huh? You better be stronger than that loser Natsu!" Laxus turned around and blasted a handful of lightning at the white haired wizard.

"Ughh!" Mason crossed his arms to block the attack but the sheer magic power was enough to knock him back. "You are strong, not as strong as Jellal but stronger than Jellal."

"What!?" Laxus blinked a few times in confusion.

"Well that means no holding back!" Mason growled. "PHANTOM DRIVE!" Mason's body once more erupted with magic power shaking Kardia Cathedral. "PHANTOM DRAGON'S CANNON!" Mason's put his hands together and blasted a massive amount of magic energy.

"HAAAHH!" Laxus threw a lightning bolt in an attempt to stop the energy blast, but it wasn't enough. The energy blast barreled past Laxus' defenses and made contact with its target. BOOM! "AAAGHH!" Laxus grunted, but in the end he managed to survive the massive attack. "Not bad, you may just be stronger than that pink haired loser. Bu not strong enough! Huh?" Laxus readied another lightning attack but Mason had once again vanished "Where'd you go? Gah!" Mason reappeared and locked Laxus arms in a martial arts hold.

"Now Jellal!" Mason called out as magic circles began to form above he and Laxus' head.

"FIVE LAYERED MAGIC CIRCLE! SACRED SONG!" Mystogan called out as magic energy began crashing down from above creating a massive purple explosion.

"Ugh!" Mason groaned receiving as much if not more damage than than Laxus did in that attack. ZAP! "Aghh!" Mason's body was blasted with magic lightning, knocking him away.

"Haha!" Laxus laughed from the clouds of smoke that encased him. "This is getting to be fun!"

"Grrr!" Mason growled in frustration before vanishing once more from sight. "PHANTOM DRAGON VANISHING FIST!" Mason appeared directly in front of Laxu and hit him in the chin with an uppercut. The attack didn't do much as Laxus countered with a fist full of lightning. "AAHHAAAHH!" Mason groaned as he flew backwards through the air, but mid flight he extended his hand and a small magic circle appeared on Laxus' chest. "PHANTOM DRAGON'S TERRIBLE RUNE!"

"AAHHHHGGG!" Laxus cried as purple magic energy began to surge across his body damaging him in the process, but the attack quickly wore off.

As Mason landed Laxus already had a lightning attack ready and he through it so that the Dragon Slayer would have no time to dodge, but Mystogan stepped in to intervene. "THREE LAYERED MAGIC CIRCLE! MIRROR WATER!" Three magic circles appeared in front of mystogan and the attack was deflected and sent back at Laxus.

Laxus simply tanked the attack, receiving almost no damage. "C'mon boys, is that the best you can do?"

"Haahh.. Haah.." Mystogan and Mason both panted almost in sync. "He's really strong.." Mason pointed out.

"You don't say?" The hooded wizard snapped back. "At least things can't get much worse."

"Mystogan?" A familiar female voice called out from behind the two wizards. "And Mason?"

"Laxus!" A second familiar voice called out.

"Erza!" Mystogan called back and exclaimed.

"You shouldn't leave yourself open like that!" Laxus taunted as he hurled a lightning bolt directly at Mystogan's head. ZAP!


(End)